How to Tell if the New 3G iPhone is Right for You

Cons: More money over the two year contract, Still only 2mp camera, No easy way to use T-Mobil, Longer time to hack the new phone

First I should mention to you that I am writing this article from the point of a person who has a first generation iPhone with a two year AT&T contract and has hacked his phone to enable more usability.

Don't you just love how one year you have the hot new thing and then within a few months it's old and uncool. Apple just loves doing this to us faithful costumers. With the release of the new iPhone there will be some changes to obtaining and using the iPhone; these changes will be stated here.

Activation

With the old iPhone you were able to buy it from an AT&T or Apple store, bring it home and then activate it with iTunes. Well, you can not do this anymore; they will activate the phones in the stores. The downside to this is that many iPhone users either use their phone on the T-Mobil service or just use it as a fancy iPod Touch. If you want to do this you have to pay a huge, more then the phone, Early Contract Termination fee. This was a great idea from AT&T/Apple to stop hackers from not using AT&T but they Apple will lose business with this strategy.

Cell Phone Plan

The new iPhone itself may be cheaper, but overall you will be paying more money over the life of the contract than the old iPhone. If you add the OLD iPhone to a family plan and get the cheapest service you will be paying $30 a month ($10 for a new line and $20 for unlimited EDGE access and 200 Text messages). The NEW iPhone at the cheapest plan is expected to be $45 a month ($10 for a new line, $30 for unlimited 3G access, and $5 for 200 text messages). So, the OLD 8 GB iPhone will be at least $1120 total ($400 phone and $30 a month times two years). The NEW 8GB iPhone will be at least $1280 total ($200 phone and $45 a month times two years). This rate is not bad but it is $160 more.

Hackability

Whether the NEW iPhone will be hackable will not be known until the release, but one thing is cretin, the NEW iPhone will take longer to hack for two reasons. One, less hackers will get their hands on a NEW iPhone due to its new activation method; two, Apple is not stupid, they will make their new phone more secure to prevent hackability. Personally I do not believe this, but some hackers may not see a point of hacking the iPhone with the advent of the AppStore. (see http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/812321/new_3g_iphone_a_look_at_3g_appstore.html?cat=15 for more info on the AppStore).

No matter what, it will still take time to find out if you can hack the iPhone.

Final Words

If you already own an iPhone and you are a hacker using the T-Mobil service or no service, there is no point for you to get a NEW iPhone. If you already own an iPhone and you are a hacker using the AT&T service, wait a few weeks to find out how to hack the iPhone. If you do not own an iPhone, buy one; the price may be a bit more but it is the new thing.